Shoe and tongue therefor



Feb. 9, 1937. c. MILLER SHOE AND TONGUE THEREFOR Filed April 8, 192 sINVENTOR CHARLES MILLER ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 9, 1937 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE SHOE AND TONGUE THEREFOR deceased Application April 8,1935, Serial No. 15,161

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to tongues for shoes and, moreparticularly, to tongues of the type which overlie the front vampportions of low shoes.

One object of the invention is toprovide a tongue, the appearance ofwhich may be varied as desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tongue having one ormore removable flaps.

A further object of the invention is to provide a multiple-flap shoetongue with improved means for securing said flaps in assembledrelation.

The above objects'of the invention and other objects ancillary theretowill best be understood from the following description considered inconnection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side perspective view of a low shoe provided with a tongueof the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan View of the tongue in partlyassembled relation;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a multiple-flap shoe tongue embodying thepresent invention, parts being broken away to more clearly illustratethe construction, and with the outline of the complete tongue beingshown partly in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

In accordance with the present invention, the shoe tongue is soconstructed that one or more flaps thereof are removable whereby topermit the removal and replacement of one or more flaps by others,preferably of different colors or materials in order to vary theappearance or color combination of the shoe tongue as may be desired. Inthe embodiment of the invention illustrated herein, the tongue comprisestwo flaps which may be permanently joined together at adjacent edgeportions thereof and which have provision for the insertion of one ormore flaps therebetween in such manner that the inserted flaps may beremoved and replaced by other flaps. Said embodiment also has provisionfor releasably securing said interposed flaps in unitary assembledrelation with the permanently attached flaps. Preferably, according tothis embodiment of the invention, the means for releasably securing theinterposed flaps is constituted by an ornamental cord or lace which ispassed through aligned apertures or eyelets in all of said flaps andtied into a bow or ornamental knot in overlying relation on the tongue.

Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown in Fig. 1 a low shoel0, preferably of the pump type, having a tongue I2 of the presentinvention secured at the front edge of the shoe opening in any wellknown. manner and disposed in the position illustrated in overlyingrelation to the front portion of the shoe.

The tongue 12 comprises a lower flap l4 and an upper flap I6, preferablypermanently secured together at their rear edge portions by a line ofstitching Hi. The rear edge 20 of the lower flap M is substantiallystraight as shown, while the rear edge 22 of the upper flap I6 extendsbeyond said edge 20 and is preferably concavely curved to permit theattachment of the tongue to the edge portion of the shoe at the shoeopening without wrinkling. The front edge 24 of the flap l4 extends asubstantial distance beyond the front edge 26 of the flap l6, said edgesof both flaps being preferably convexly curved, primarily for thepurpose of ornamentation, andalso serrated as shown for the samepurpose. Further, the front edge portion of the tongue flap [4 may beslit to form in said portion a plurality of fringelike strips 28. Asthus constructed, the flaps I 4 and iii are united only at their rearedge portions and are otherwise free from each other. For the purpose ofreleasably holding the body portions of said flaps together forwardly oftheir rear edge portions, and for other purposes which will presentlyappear, a cord or lace 30 is passed through eyelets 32 and 34 in saidflaps l4 and I6, respectively, and tied into a bow as illustrated.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the provisionfor varying the appearance of the tongue by means of the associationtherewith of one or more replaceable flaps of diiferent colors, or ofcombinations of colors, or of materials, or of both colors andmaterials. For this purpose, one or more flaps 36 and 38, generallysimilar in configuration to the flaps l4 and I6, are removablyinterposed between said flaps and are held in such removable relation bythe cord '39 which passes through eyelets 40 provided, in said flaps. Asillustrated in the drawing, the removable flaps 3B and 38 are ofdifierent colors with respect to each other and with respect also tosaid flaps I l and I6 which, with respect to each other, may be of thesame or different colors. It will be observed that the front edge ofeach overlying fiap of the tongue [2 terminates short of the front edgeof the immediately underlying flap, whereby to expose to View a marginaledge portion of each flap, so that the several exposed flap portionscombine to produce a pleasing ornamental effect which may be varied, asstated above, by varying the color and/or the materials of theinterposed flaps. The ornamental effect is also improved by theprovision of the cord 30, since the latter, in addition to serving asmeans for fastening the removable flaps in position, also contributes tothe ornamental appearance of the tongue. All of the flaps are preferablymade of leather but may be made of any other suitable materials orcombinations of different materials.

Thus, it will be seen that the present embodiment is well adapted toaccomplish the several objects of the invention. It will be understood,however, that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as here shownand that certain changes in the construction and. arrangement of partsmay be made in the present embodiment without departing from theinvention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the preciseconstructions herein disclosed except as may be required by the appendedclaims and the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An outer shoe tongue so arranged that its appearance may be changed,said tongue comprising two flaps arranged in superposed relation withthe rear edge of one flap permanently secured adjacent the rear edge ofthe other flap, the forward edge of the upper flap terminatingshort ofthe forward edge of the lower flap, a third flap removably interposed inposition between said two flaps and projecting beyond the forward edgeof said upper flap and terminating short of the forward edge of thelower flap, at least one of said two flaps and said third flap havingeyelets therein, and a cord passed through said eyelets for r eleasablysecuring said third flap in said inter posed position.

2. In a shoe, an outer tongue so arranged that its appearance may bechanged, said tongue comprising two flaps arranged in superposedrelation,

the upper flap extending beyond the rear edge of g the lower flap, andterminating short of the forward edge of said lower flap, the rearwardlyextending portion of the upper flap being secured at the front of theshoe opening, and a third flap removably interposed between said twoflaps and extending beyond the forward edge of said upper flap andterminating short of theforward edge of said lower flap.

3. In a shoe, an outer tongue so arranged that its appearance may bechanged, said tongue com prising two fiaps arranged in superposedrelation, the upper flap extending beyond the rear edge of the lowerflap, and terminating short of the forward edge of said lower flap, therearwardly extending portion of the upper flap being secured at thefront of the shoe opening, and a third flap removably interposed betweensaid two flaps and extending beyond the forward edge of said upper flapand terminating short of the forwardedge of said lower flap, said thirdflap and at least one I of the said other flaps having aligned eyeletsand a cord passing through said eyelets to releasably secure said thirdflap in said interposed relation.

4. A low shoe having an outertongue so arranged that its appearance maybe changed, said tongue being secured to the shoe at the front edge ofthe shoe opening and overlying the front vamp portion of the shoe andcomprising two permanently attached flaps, and. at least one removableflap interposed between said two permanently attached flaps, said flapsbeing arranged in superposed relation and the forward edge of eachunderlying flap extending beyond the forward edge of the overlying flapwhereby at least a part of each of said flaps is exposed to view.

CHARLES MILLER.

